A 44-year-old Worcester coach driver has denied he had any sexual contact with a young boy while giving him a lift on his motorbike.

Darren Purchase, of Hayfield Close, St John's, said he had only given the boy a lift once in the early 1980s when he had just passed his test at the age of 18 . He said he saw the boy, who he knew and who was 12 or 13 at the time, in the street in Worcester and offered him a lift. When the boy accepted, Purchase rode home to pick up a second crash helmet then rode back to where the boy was waiting. He then gave him a lift home while the boy was holding onto the rack at the back of the bike.

Questioned by Jason Aris, defending, he also denied ever taking the boy alone to the building where he worked as a caretaker.

Purchase denies 21 sexual offences including rape, buggery and sexual assault between 1984 and 2011. The alleged victims are eight females and a male.

He told a jury at Worcester Crown Court that when he was aged 18 or 19, he had a group of friends who were two or three years younger. On one occasion, he drove in his Ford Escort to a party and met a girl there he thought was 16. He said they had a "kiss and cuddle" in his car but denied an allegation that anything further took place.

Purchase said he had later worked as a delivery driver for the Brewery Tap and Brewery in Lowesmoor, as a bus driver for Midland Red and as a coach driver.

Asked about his relationships with women, he agreed with a claim that he had used a hairbrush during foreplay but said the woman had consented.

He denied a claim that he had also inserted a plastic bottle and a toothbrush into her. He said she had also consented to him shaving her private parts and that he had not done this while she was asleep.

He denied an allegation that he had a collection of pornographic magazines and videos and said they had only watched one video together, which he had borrowed, a hardcore porn film involving nuns.

He also said he had a "friends with benefits" relationship with another woman. She was a friend with whom he had sex several times a week in a seven-year relationship.

He also saw another woman for several years and their relationship had been "fabulous." Neither of the women had made any complaints to him, he said.

The trial continues